Downtown Aubrey was bursting at the seams with classic cars and modern muscle cars on Saturday morning.
The first Aubrey Motor Fest drew in 140 entries into the car show.
'I'm tickled; you never know [how it's going to turn out],' Aubrey Events and Programs Coordinator Rodney Cagle said. 'We maxed out our parking a while ago and we're scrambling to find more, so that's a win.'
He had help from two of his friends who are well versed in the car show world, Viki and Israel Dunn, calling them 'the key to the success of this.'
'We've had a great turnout,' Viki said. 'I was also again worried a little bit about whether we were going to get rain, but it looks like it's getting overcast skies, which is fantastic.'
She was also impressed with the city staff's work to keep things running smoothly for the show.
'As usual, Rodney had a great idea and ran with it,' Viki said.
Israel, who was hanging out around his and Viki's entries, was also pleased with the outcome but refused to claim any of the credit.
They brought in Brittany and Ray Hershey with Time Machine Car Shows, who handled the registration process.
'We used to do Moms on Main back in the day,' Brittany said. 'The last year we did that one was back in 2019, and it kind of left a lot of people sad and upset because we had turned it into such a huge event.'
She jumped at the chance to bring it back when Cagle called.
'People were very excited for the comeback,' Brittany said. 'They love smalltown shows like this.'
She also added that first events are 'the smallest of all the shows.'
'From here we can only get bigger and better,' Brittany said.
The show also had one primary sponsor, Empire Construction.
'I didn't have any budget on this at all, and Empire stepped up, sponsored the entire thing, covered my costs for the car show and then didn't stop there,' Cagle said. 'They paid for free face painting for all the children that come. Jumpin' Jones' [Inflatables] donated a bounce house. Everybody's really come together to make this work.'
Rudy Bustos, who averages about two car shows per month from February to October, said he was impressed with the turnout for the event and with the organization of the event, which he also credited to the Dunns and the Hersheys.
'I'm actually surprised this many cars showed up for the first show,' Bustos said.
He curled up into his folding chair for his traditional car show nap, waking up to go judge the entries.
Bebo Chandler, who also loves entering car shows, said he was happy with the chance to have a show on Main Street again, this time with Hank by his side.
'I get to see all my old friends I ain't seen in a long time,' he said. 'I love it very much.'
Mayor Chris Rich turned out, taking his time to check out the entries as well as the vendors who turned out for the accompanying Fruit Jar Junction Market and kids' activity area in Veterans Memorial Park.
'This is what we've been working for,' he said. 'Fill downtown.'
Council member Randy Jones, who donated the infl atable and provided the volunteer in the form of his son, Gavin Jones, to man it, was also pleased with the turnout and the diverse entries on display.
'It looks like a pretty good turnout to me, … a lot of nice cars,' he said.
City Secretary Jenny Hicks, too, was loving the market and the car show.
'Rodney's great at this stuff,' she said, also adding, 'Viki and Izzy … live and breathe this stuff.'
Cagle hopes to use the notes from Saturday's event to improve it for next time and ultimately to keep growing the event.
'I've just got to find more parking,' he said, looking around at the cars along Main Street. 'I love the fact that I ran out of parking. That's the best goal I could have hit.'
Aubrey Events and Programs Coordinator Rodney Cagle looks around at the cars lining Main Street for the first Aubrey Motor Fest. The event Saturday drew 140 entries as well as spectators who were checking out the vehicles on display.
Photos by Abigail Allen/ The Post-Signal
